\section{Research Significance}
\label{sec:researchsignificance}

The relevance and significance of our research is exemplified in the both national and international contexts. On an overall level there is an increasingly realised need to seek collective decisions and strategies in order to be sustainable both economically, socially, and environmentally. \bigskip

\noindent The European Commission has, in the already mentioned communication to the European Parliament, addressed how open data can be means to tap economic opportunities and tackle societal and environmental challenges \citep[p. 3]{EU}. They point out that one main EU open data achievement is the preparation and deployment of the \textit{Directive on the re-use of public sector information} \citep{PSI}. There is, however, a \textit{``lack of awareness among public organisations of the potential of open data''} \citep[p. 7]{EU}. We argue that the following quote clearly illustrate the significance of our research:

\begin{quote}
\textit{``Changing the mindset in administrations requires strong political commitment at the highest level and a dynamic dialogue between stakeholders, including administrations and public data holders, businesses and the academic community. Pilot and test cases, the sharing of good practices, and mobilisation campaigns (using for example open data competitions) can help the public sector in adopting a culture of open data. This will also increase business awareness of data availability and the opportunities it offers.''} \citep[p. 7]{EU}
\end{quote} 

\noindent In addition, our research hopes to establish an environment for overcoming the practical and technical issues to be addressed. They write that \textit{``data interoperability aspects need to be tackled so that information resources from different organisations and countries can be combined''} \citep[p. 8]{EU}. We see this tackling as part of a maturing process, where sustainable data interoperability is more likely to be obtained by going through other necessary steps. \bigskip

\noindent The Prime Minister of Denmark, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and the Danish Minister of Economy and the Interior, Morten Østergaard, recently wrote a feature in the national newspaper Politiken. They emphasised how collective welfare is a product of sustainability-enabling policy:


\begin{quote}

\textit{``We can not keep off affecting our environment when our agricultural businesses produce food and we, for instance, build new roads and railways. But we must find the right balances, where economic growth and social development occurs in interaction with - and not at the expense of - our nature and environment.''} \citep{THORNING}

\end{quote} 

\noindent This can be seen as an attempt to create common national values and goals, which can enable collaboration and catalyse synergies increasing the total value of the system. 

Along with Great Britain, the Danish government has also developed ideas and publications about how to utilize open government data in an e-governance context. In October 2012 they published the e-governance strategy for 2011--2015 called \textit{``Good Basic Data for Everyone - a Driver For Growth and Efficiency''}. They write about how \textit{``public authorities in Denmark register various core information about individuals, businesses, real properties, buildings, addresses, and more,''} \citep[p. 3]{DK} and outline their visions for enabling re-use of this data and point to the obstacles the society has to overcome for it to happen. They say that there are not clear incentives for the sectors to use the resources needed for sharing their data and the price of this data is very difficult to determine because of conflicting interests among the public sector and private entrepreneurs and businesses who want to exploit public-sector basic data in new and creative ways \citep[p. 4]{DK}. The following quote supports the relevance of our research. The goal of our research is exactly to normatively grasp and reach a sustainable exploitation of cross-sector open data - not limiting it to only public data. 

\begin{quote}

\textit{``Open and homogeneous re-use of basic data also has great value for the private sector, partly because businesses use this data in their internal processes and, partly, because the information contained in public-sector data can be exploited for entirely new products and solutions, in particular digital ones. In short, basic data freely available to the private sector is a potential driver for innovation, growth and job creation.''} \citep[p. 3]{DK}

\end{quote}

\noindent The Danish consortium CLEAN\footnote{Formerly known as Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster.} is also engaged with the open data agenda in Denmark - particularly in a smart city context. Recently they published an issue of their journal called \textit{``Cities - the real climate heroes?''}, where they draw attention to smart cities and see them as catalysts for green development. \cite{CCC1} says that long-term planning requires new forms of collaboration and CLEAN has also made an effort to investigate new collaboration forms through their consortium. They have drawn attention to the potential value of cross-sector open data initiatives and put out a tender for what they call \textit{Big Data Infrastructure}\footnote{In chapter \ref{chap:literaturereview} we will give an overview of the differences and similarities between the two concepts of open and big data.}. The tender documents was made public in October 2013 and asks for suggestions to business models, incentive structures, pilot apps, etc. The platform is thought as a platform for transactions of public and private data with a vision of being financially sustainable and give private actors opportunity to draw value from existing data\footnote{\url{http://cleancluster.dk/projekter/big-data-infrastruktur-innovativ-udbudsproces/}}. They write that 

\begin{quote}
\textit{``Private companies are not aware of the value of their data because the potential buyers are not aware of the data's existence. By creating a platform where the two sides can work together it creates an `information market', which will foster innovation and create new services to consumers.''}
\end{quote}

\noindent We argue that for such a platform to be successful and yield most long-term, sustainable value, actors have to develop a collective mindset and a common vision regarding the platform. Of course, the platform itself can catalyse open data maturity among actors, but has no built-in mechanisms for ensuring it. Our research put this kind of concrete initiatives into a broader perspective with a goal to increase the probability for open data initiatives to become successful. If we, through this thesis, can validate the advantages of using a systems approach in smart cities and succeed in forming a conceptual model for normatively increasing the collective open data maturity of a smart city, then our research is state of the art. \bigskip